People with a scholarship delusion

Ezekiel 20: [45] Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

[46] Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
[47] And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
[48] And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.

"That's a description of what Habakkuk is describing about this marvelous (meaning, 'Whoah, I never saw anything like that before!') work. When he brings these people just to march through the land, the breadth of it, possess it and destroy it," explains Richard Jordan.

"Look at what they say in response: [49] Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?

"They say, 'It's not real; that's all figurative, apocalyptic language. The Lord's really not going to do that to us.'

"Who in the world would tell you that the Bible doesn't mean what it says and doesn't say what it means? The wise and prudent or babes?

"The scholars came along and said, 'Well, we know that all things have continued on since the creation of the world; it can't be that, it's got to be . . .' Can't be real, can't be literal.

"You see when he says, 'It shall not be quenched.' You know a verse like that in your Bible? Jesus talked about people being cast into hell where the fire's not quenched.

"What do people say about hell? You've got English bibles today that are scared to use the word hell. They say hades. You got people today who will use that word on the freeway but they don't want it in their bible.

"You know what that is? That's people with a scholarship delusion. It's a bunch of nothing.

"My point is, this marvelous work, the reason people aren't going to believe it, and they aren't going to believe the judgment's coming when God said it is, is because the scholars are going to tell them, 'Well, not, it's really not that; it's symbolic, apocalyptic. It isn't real, it's not actual.'

"That's where the unbelief came from; that was the excusing the passing over of their sin because, rather than having hearts that believed God's Word and would repent because of it and turn to the Lord, they had all the outward trappings.

"Here comes the judgment in Habakkuk 1: [8] Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

"In other words, these guys are going to be violent, vicious. The only reason they come is violence. If you look that word up in the Hebrew it's the word hamas, the same word used today to describe the enemies of Israel. It's a fascinating kind of connection there.

[9] They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

"Take them off into captivity and they're not going to leave any of them there. They're just going to eat them up. The east wind in the Bible is a bad wind and they're just going to suck them up.

"You go back to Deuteronomy 28 and all that stuff's prophesied back there. [10] And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

"Back in Ezekiel, he talks about how they're going to cast a mountain against the city; build a ramp up to get over the wall. You know, we talk about building walls to give security to countries but there's always a way around them.

"He's prophesying exactly how Babylon is going to take Jerusalem and take the land. Verse 11: [11] Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

"Now you're not talking about a they, you're talking about a he. Now you're talking about the leader of this whore and his mind's going to change, 'imputing this his power unto his god.'

"Prophetically, doctrinally that's going to be a reference to the Antichrist. II Thessalonians 2: [3] Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

[4] Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

"There's going to be a change of his mind right in the middle of his ministry."